'Buyer's Remorse Is Just Beginning,' Says Ex-MAGA Activist Rich Logis — Predicts Economic Fallout For Trump's Supporters

Buyer's remorse is just beginning, warns former Make America Great Again insider Rich Logis, who sees an economic hangover ahead for households still filling carts under rising tariff-driven prices.

Inflation jitters, a souring confidence gauge and a ballooning deficit all point in the same direction. In a May 11 opinion piece for Salon, Logis, the executive director of the nonprofit Leaving MAGA,  argues that the costs of MAGA are landing squarely on lower- and middle-income wallets that once celebrated them.

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Logis recounted how rallies became "all-consuming" until looming deportations, tariff threats and constitutional flashpoints forced him to step away from the movement and launch the nonprofit Leaving MAGA. 

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Fresh polling backs his gut feeling. A nationwide April 23 survey by the Pew Research Center found President Donald Trump's job approval stalled at 40%, while 59% of adults rejected his sweeping tariff hikes—seven points worse than February. 

Washington's ledger looks no rosier. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected in January that the federal deficit will hit $1.9 trillion this year, pushing government debt toward 118% of GDP in 2035.

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Immigration policy adds another bill. A March brief from the Migration Policy Institute estimated stepped-up deportations—and the public-relations blitz selling them—will cost at least $200 million before court fights or transport fees. 

Retailers are speaking out. Walmart WMT CFO John David Rainey said in a May 15 earnings call that inflation is still a factor—up about 40 basis points from last year—but the company is managing it through stronger margins and a shift in its business mix, giving it some room to adjust prices if needed.

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic warned that businesses are nearing the limits of their ability to absorb import taxes, suggesting a broad price spike could be on the horizon, Reuters reported. He said that earlier tactics like stockpiling are becoming less effective, and future price shifts may reveal how consumers respond.

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Consumer mood already reflects the sticker shock. The University of Michigan's preliminary May consumer sentiment index slid to 50.8—its lowest reading since 2022—as nearly three-quarters of respondents spontaneously blamed tariffs, according to the survey. 

Against that backdrop, Logis offers five guideposts for relatives hoping to ease MAGA supporters off the ride: find common ground, skip insults, invite reconciliation, keep conversations respectful and, only after trust builds, introduce stories of other defectors. 

Calling MAGA a cult or crowing "I told you so" fuels defensiveness, he said.

Logis believes empathy plus stark wallet math will do the heavy lifting. "There will be a gradual, and then sudden, realization," he wrote, that tariffs, deportations and runaway deficits "will harm lower-income and middle-class Americans, along with small-business owners, worst of all." 

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